Arlington County, Arlington Rat Control Situation:
Hello. I don't know if this is something you still do, but I need some expert advise so thought I'd give it a try! We are renting a house in Alexandria VA west of DC. I think it was built in the 60's, a ranch style home, and has been renovated but has much of the original doors, framework, etc. The guest bathroom in particular is not sealed off properly. It was an add-on and not done correctly, so the slab is cracked and eroding, as well as rotten wood with holes in it sealed with foam of all things! We have a beautiful courtyard and put out a couple bird feeders, but recently took them down when we noticed the sounds of critters in the attic. We've looked up there and so far the insulation looks almost new and other than a few cobwebs it's pretty clean up there. But there are a few droppings! I want to catch this early and eradicate the problem as quickly and humanely as possible for our safety and for the safety of our landlords house. It looks like you suggest sealing first, then traps, then clean-up. What do you think about the birdseed? Is it to blame? Or the wide open house? Can the rats be coming in from below the slab? My husband, ( this is his email btw) has heard them under the tub in the guest bathroom:// Any other tips? And are you by chance nearby in Arlington VA? Probably not, but just thought I'd check! Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Thank you for your time!
My response: The slab could be to blame. Perhaps there are multiple entries. I wouldn't know without seeing it, but I live in Orlando. Bird seed does attract rats, but really, the problem is that there are openings leading inside the house.
We have a roof rat problem. We've heard the little critter crawling around in our daughters upstairs bedroom (refinished attic /bedroom) for awhile now. My wife also saw the little guy in action on our neighbors bird feeder at about 3:30am this morning and then watched him head back up to our roof. That pretty much sealed the deal that we weren't dealing with squirrels... I can see a few potential issues. We don't have a way into the attic because of the way it was refinished. When previous owner did renovations, they didn't leave access point to portion of attic that is unfinished. There is also some flashing on roof that is pulled up and near where we hear the most noises. I was going to secure it, but don't want to trap anything in... Contact info is below. Give me a call on my cell, anytime, and I can go into more detail for you. Hopefully you can give me a rough estimate on the phone and then we can proceed from there. Definitely want to get this issue resolved. :)
Arlington Rat Control Tip of The Week
Humane Ways To Kill A Rat
You might be thinking of the best way to get rid of the rats in your home without making them go through prolonged and excruciating pain. There are several ways to get this done, but first, you need to make sure all the possible entry points of rats into your house are sealed. Failure to do this will only make you continue to repeat the whole process of rat removal without getting the desired result.
To humanely kill the rats in your home, you need special rat removal devices like live traps and snap traps. These traps are designed to capture rats without making them suffer or go through pain before dying.
The best part about the use of these traps is that you won't even watch the rat die. All you just have to do is set and bait the trap properly. When you are back to check it, the trap will have caught and killed the rat.
Snap Traps
The use of a snap trap is one of the oldest yet most effective ways of removing rats from homes. This trap is designed in a way that captures the rat by the head and kills it instantly. Apart from being an effective way of trapping rats, setting it up is very easy. All you have to do is bait it using good bait. While the rat is trying to take the bait, the trap will be triggered and the rat will be caught. But this trap will only work when the whole head of the rat is inside the trap.
Live Traps
If you are looking for an alternative to trapping rats humanely without actually killing them, the use of live traps is a good idea. This type of trap is designed to help capture rats without causing them any pain or stress. However, for you to make sure this trapping process is humane, you need to check the trap frequently to avoid starving the rat before actually relocating them.
